Thessalonian 1: 1-8 Reflection:It is only 7.30am and already three times today I have heard the message to proclaim God’s word no matter what. The first was in the psalms during the office of reading when we read that Israel has been placed among these pagan nations and is to obey God’s law even in the midst of hostility.The second was in a reading by St Chrysostom and it says to practice humility and do God’s will in every circumstance, whether that is popular or not. And now, in the first reading of the day, Paul tells us,“We had, as you know, been given rough treatment and been grossly insulted at Philippi, and it was our God who gave us the courage to proclaim his Good News to you in the face of great opposition.” The world is always in opposition to God, we all know that, but for the Christian the question is ‘how do we react to the world and its ways?’ Paul tells us that we should simply go on doing God’s will, living ordinary Christian lives and being a part of the community to which we belong. We seek no special place or glory and we try to be a burden on no one. “We were unassuming. Like a mother feeding and looking after her own children, we felt so devoted and protective towards you, and had come to love you so much, that we were eager to hand over to you not only the Good News but our whole lives as well.” When we see the sins of the world and the behaviour of our friends and children and those around us, when we see them drifting aimlessly through life, we should not condemn, we wait for them to come round. That is the work of God that we do in the world today—wait and love, with the odd prayer for help!